Catching On
by angst cupcake
Summary: The four times Henry was out of the loop, and the one time he actually started to show the signs of catching on. Jasper x Henry


Author's Note: It's been well over a year (maybe two?) since the last time I posted here. Wow! :) Cartoon Network's newest show has really gotten me back in the swing of posting fanfiction again back on here (especially since most of my favorite pairings besides Jasper/Henry are RPS). I really took a shining to the show's characters, and of course, like any good slasher, saw the potential between Henry and Jasper. ;) And I really liked Henry's lack of knowledge about most things in the modern world, despite the fact he's so smart about everything else.

Hope I haven't gotten too rusty, enjoy!

PS - if you don't like slash: don't read.

**Disclaimer:** I own nothing, sadly. If I did, the show would probably be on Adult Swim and rated Mature, not on Cartoon Network. ;D

* * *

"You just speak into it, Henry." Maggie persisted and Henry reached out the car window, poking the plastic clown face with a frown. Jasper slapped his hand back.

"Its mouth doesn't move, how does it speak?" Jasper pressed his face against the steering wheel. Maggie was trying hard not to laugh, burying a smile behind her hand as she turned her face out the window. Jasper looked through the rearview mirror, "You've never been to a McDonald's before? They're like, the _biggest_ fast food chain in the world!" Henry shook his head.

"I've heard of them a little bit, but mother and father didn't approve of fast food. We ate organic, mostly-"

"And whatever else you barbarians could hunt down with your bare hands." Jasper muttered under his breath and there was an impatient huff from the clown. Inside its mouth was a screen with both Jasper's and Maggie's orders, and the lady behind the microphone didn't seem like she was keen on waiting that much longer. Henry jumped, staring at the plastic clown. Maggie was biting her knuckles, eyes watering with held-back laughter. Jasper tossed her a _stop that, it's **so** not that funny_ look.

"Sir, I'm going to have to ask you to finish up your order or move on, you have cars behind you." Came the irritated, female voice. Henry was staring at the clown face quizzically before turning around in his seat.

"She's right. There's cars back there, Jasper. How does she know that? Her eyes don't move. And she doesn't sound that happy. I thought clowns were supposed to be happy." Henry looked both shocked and confused. Jasper caught Maggie giggling and he found himself having a hard time of his own in keeping from bursting. _No, Jasper_, he thought mentally, gripping the steering wheel tightly, _you can't laugh, he'll think this is a joke and then you'll never get your burger._ Oh, such a travesty that would be.

"It's called a drive-thru, Henry. There's a microphone inside the mouth where the screen is and it leads to a woman you'll see in the window where we pay." Jasper tried to explain hurriedly as the woman sighed again, his serious face cracking with a fond grin as he watched Henry's brow furrow.

"She sure has a long neck, then."

Maggie and Jasper nearly died laughing as they peeled out of the parking lot, leaving a hot order of burgers and irritated employees and customers in their wake.

* * *

_henrygriffin has signed in._

brainsandbeauty: not very original, henry.

hotstud_xx: lol not subtle dude.

henrygriffen: imadeitthough

hotstud_xx: dude. press the big bar at the bottom in between words.

henrygriffen: oh

brainsandbeauty: this is so not going to work. nice attempt jasper. xD

hotstud_xx: i tried.

brainsandbeauty: fail. :-P

hotstud_xx: lol shuddup.

henrygriffen: lol? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ?

hotstud_xx: henry

henrygriffin: ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ?

hotstud_xx: let go of the shift key.

brainsandbeauty: im surprised he can press that many keys at once.

hotstud_xx: i taught him that. so, not all of this was made of fail.

brainsandbeauty: touche bartlett, touche.

henrygriffen: lol?

hotstud_xx: jesus u rly dont know what lol means? lol = laughing out loud.

henrygriffen: but you are not laughing out the loudness. I'm sitting across the room.

brainsandbeauty: LOL! XD

henrygriffen: XD?

brainsandbeauty: it's a laughing face. :)

henrygriffen: :)?

brainsandbeauty: … a smiley face henry. ogad, this is bad.

hotstud_xx: its very sad actually.

henrygriffen: :(

brainsandbeauty: omg you made an emoticon! :D

henrygriffen: what is an emoticon?

brainsandbeauty: lol, i'm done with this for the night. i've gotta study. maybe we can try this again 2morrow night?

hotstud_xx: hahaha we'll see. idk if henry will even remember how to sign on.

henrygriffen: :(

brainsandbeauty: lol ok. c u guys later. :-*

_brainsandbeauty has signed out._

_hotstud_xx has signed out._

henrygriffin: :(

_hotstud_xx has signed on._

hotstud_xx: did you forget how to sign out?

hotstud_xx: henry?

hotstud_xx: ...henryyy!

hotstud_xx: HENRY! you're across the room from me!

hotstud_xx: i won't b mad, I promise. *hearts*

hotstud_xx: did you forget?

henrygriffen: yeah.

hotstud_xx: lol this really is bad. kk, jasper to the rescue!

_hotstud_xx has signed out._

_henrygriffin has signed out._

* * *

"If she were actually a 'Lady', I believe I would've met her or at least _heard_ of her in all the places I've been. Especially since she seems so famous." Henry waved his hands in the air dramatically as Jasper and Maggie sent him exasperated stares over the table.

"She wasn't knighted a 'Lady', Henry, that's just her stage name," Maggie continued to explain as she pulled the earbud she'd been sharing with Jasper and handed it the other, "Lady Gaga, she's a singer."

"...Ga-who?"

"Ga_ga_, Henry. You're telling me you _also_ don't keep up with the music of the day either?" Jasper's brow furrowed and Maggie passed him a sympathetic look. Henry pressed the earbud into his ear, listening, a thoughtful expression written across his face. Every now and then, a finger or his foot or his head would bob and tap with the rhythm of the bass that Jasper could hear from the headphones.

After a few moments, Henry spoke, "Why does she want to write such a bad romance with someone? Wouldn't she want to write a good one?" Jasper's forehead hit the table a few seconds later and Maggie just took back the earbud with a laugh.

* * *

"Henry... why are you on _my_ computer?" Jasper froze in the doorway of his bedroom. Henry sat cross-legged atop the bed and waved, motioning the other over.

"Maggie told me about the Faceyspaces."

"The what?" Jasper sat down next to Henry on the bed, rolling his backpack onto the floor and pulled the laptop towards him.

"The Faceyspaces. She said I can meet all my friends on there and tell them what I'm doing." Henry beamed. Jasper found the satisfied smile on his cousin's face all-too-endearing to break with his anger on the fact Henry hadn't asked to borrow the computer in the first place. Henry rarely used it by himself, and was always proud of himself if he managed to type in a URL right, especially the first time. He was just starting to get the hang of search engines, too.

"Are you talking about Facebook and MySpace?" Jasper asked. Henry's face blanked. Jasper's short-lived feelings of fondness ended abruptly. He sighed, running a hand through his hair. This shouldn't be so difficult.

"Alright, pick a site, and I'll make it for you."

* * *

"Henry, he's _hitting on you_."

"No, he's not," Henry cocked a brow at his cousin, confused, before looking at the handsome blonde boy across the science lab, "I'm pretty sure you need your hands to hit someone with, or some kind of object – and he's all the way across the room." Jasper pressed his forehead into his palm. Sometimes, it was really difficult living with someone who was out of the modern-day loop. You expected your grandparents to act like that, not someone your own age. Someone, if they didn't spend time with Henry nearly every moment of the day, might think his cousin was a shut-in.

"No, I mean, like... he's flirting with you." Jasper's lips compressed into a tight line when he got another quizzical look. Jasper thought hard on how to try and explain it to the other, "Okay, so... you know how animals will attract the opposite sex with flashy moves and gestures?" Henry nodded. "It's kind of like that and-"

"You mean, he wants to _mate_ with me!' Henry exclaimed loudly. Eyes widened and turned towards them from all directions of the room Jasper hurriedly cupped a hand over the others mouth, grabbed Henry curtly by the arm and dragged him from the room.

"What're you talking about?" Jasper hissed once they reached the boy's bathroom and he made sure there was no one around to hear them. Henry thrust Jasper's hand from his mouth, glaring at him.

"Usually the point of an animal showing off to the other gender is so that they can mate. Is that what he wants?" Henry folded his arms over his chest, and for once, Jasper actually had to think about that. A lot of the time (especially at this age), that was true. People teased and flirted just to get into each others' pants.

"Uh, technically, I guess... but not right away!" Jasper added the last bit hurriedly when Henry's mouth fell open, "I mean, he's kind of doing it to just, y'know, _attract_ you right now. Get you to come over and talk to him. The mating thing usually comes later-"

"Is that why you try and show off so often then, too?" Henry asked, head cocked. Jasper was, once again, stunned to silence, "You want to mate with me, Jasper?" Jasper swallowed tightly. Henry's eyes had darkened considerably and with his arms crossed, he was clenching his shirt and twisting.

"Okay, first of all, it's called _sex_ Henry," Jasper cleared his throat, shifting on both feet. Henry's eyes bored into him like fire and Jasper was waiting for his hair to set aflame, "Mating is for animals." Henry laughed at that one, but it was a smokey sound. Jasper's blood was suddenly boiling in his veins, and about 90% of it was going to the wrong head, making it rather difficult to think clearly at the moment. Jasper didn't miss the quick dart of Henry's eyes when he noticed. It only made Jasper hotter.

"It's the same thing. _Technically_." Henry mocked and Jasper watched with inner amusement as the others lips curled into a faint smirk, "And that doesn't answer my question, Jasper." Jasper would say that he hadn't moved, but he must have because he suddenly had Henry pinned to the wall, between the sinks. Henry could have easily broken from the grip, fingers flexing, but he held himself, the smirk still on his lips.

Jasper squeezed his grip around Henry's wrists, "You're starting to catch on, Henry. I'm impressed," Their noses brushed and Jasper could see Henry's smile twitch with pride, "Don't get cocky."

"Don't _you_ get cocky," Henry's leg worked up his own, like a snake, tangling around it and drew out the support. Jasper yelped and soon found himself pressed against the wall. He practically growled when Henry's grip held him in place, "You're just lucky I like the thought of you mating with me." Henry teased and Jasper's breath caught in his throat, feeling Henry's grasp slacken. He used it as a moment of leverage and twirled them around – or tried to. He ended up slamming Henry up against one of the sink; there was no more wall to roll into.

"You still haven't answered my question." Henry's breath was quick, only growing faster when Jasper's lips brushed his own. He tried to crane his neck up and catch them with his own, but even if Jasper was weaker than him, he was taller and there wasn't much Henry could do about that. Jasper liked the thought that Henry _was_ so much stronger than him, but was so damn willing to toss it all so carelessly out the window for _him. _Oh his ego, how it _purred_.

Jasper shrugged nonchalantly, "Was it working?" Henry raised a brow and laughed, turning his face. Jasper could see the hint of a blush.

"Maybe." Henry tossed Jasper's hands off of him and side-stepped out of his reach.

"... are you playing hard to get?" Jasper's eyes narrowed as he watched Henry head for the door. Henry paused at the threshold and turned back with a wide grin, leaning against the door frame.

"Everyone loves the thrill of the hunt, Jasper," Henry licked his lips in a way that Jasper's knees quivering and his mind wading through several images on _what_ that tongue could do, "Even someone who's as out of the loop as me." Henry gave him a little wave before hurriedly heading out of the bathroom. Jasper's phone buzzed. He pulled it out of his pocket. It was Maggie:

_i saw u guys leave the room. did he pull the fast one on u yet? i taught him that. ;) thank me later for appealing to his jungle nature about the hunting crap._

Jasper laughed, phone buzzing again. This time, it was Henry:

_how long are you going to stand in there this isnt as exciting as maggie said it would be im going to get bored_

It took Jasper a few times to decipher the text before he managed to mentally insert the punctuations in all the right places to read it. Jasper flipped open his phone and began to type back two messages.

One to Maggie: _ur right, im gonna have fun w/ this. thanks, ur awesome. and if u tell ne one i said that, we're no longer friends. :)_

And one to Henry: _u better hope i don't catch u. u don't even want to know what im going to do to u. or maybe u do. ;) and use punctuation next time, genius!_

Pocketing the phone, Jasper hurriedly ducked out of the bathroom. He was pretty damn sure Henry would _love _to know what he was going to do to him when he caught him. Jasper was pretty sure he would himself.


End file.
